Gregory Pratt

QUOTE(Brian @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 08:12 AM) I'm going to the afternoon game. Right behind Sox bullpen. Maybe I can get a souvenir.

I like Gio enough, but I wouldn't bet on him. I'm only wondering, What if these guys don't pan out, like last time? Like with so many prospects everywhere! How bad are we going to be then? Our "strength" in our minor league system is not really. It's just a perceived strength, and I'm really not looking forward to the day that this house of cards comes crashing down.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 10:26 AM) Well to be honest, with that set of drafts we were coming off horrible seasons and had some top 10 draft picks. McDowell was number 5 overall in 87. He was a stud in the college world series. Ventura was next year, and if you look at his college numbers the guy was dominating. Thomas was the next year. Then Alex Fernandez, who won the golden spikes award that year. Being bad over a period of years is a great way of retooling the old minor league system. Trust me, unless we are totally incompetent. If we are bad for a few years, our minor league system will go from baren to impressive in a short period of time. Its the nature of draft position. The only new factor these days is the boras factor. It's a huge factor. Also: draft picks get much more money nowadays.

They don't have to be wrong but I was thinking yesterday -- what if, like the last time (in the late 90s) we had a "good" stock of young arms, none pan out, or just two, do. Let's say Gio becomes a 3 or 4 or less. Let's say Garland reverts to what he used to be. Vazquez too. Let's say Buehrle loses 2-4 MPH on his fastball. Floyd remains Floyd. Haeger doesn't pan out. Broadway never makes it (I don't really think he has what it takes, stuff-wise, to be any good). Danks falls apart. Or, hell, Danks stays good, but the others all fall apart. The future is going to be bad and if I were betting, I don't think there's a single Sox pitcher I'd bet on to continue being successful in the coming years.

This organization...ugh.

We don't like heavy metal We don't like rock n roll All we like to listen to Is Barry Manilow

That's hardly a ringing endorsement. Yeah, but since, there are a ton of people who rise to Floyd's defense. Believe me, nobody wants Gavin Floyd to succeed more than I do. But almost everybody expects more from him than I do.

Loving baseball makes it easy. There are always great players, or one great player, on one of the two teams.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 04:20 PM) Gambled on three awful pitchers? In Masset and Floyd's case, neither were centerpieces in the deal. Adkins? Yeah, that one was bad, but that was in the early part of Kenny's GM career -- I feel he's gotten a lot better since then. That's not to say that Kenny didn't overrate any of the above three -- but these issues with Kenny are far down on the reasons why he should be canned. You've also become waaaay too biased to even comment about Floyd at this point, or so it appears. There were several people who still liked Floyd at the time of the trade, most notably John Sickels. I know it's the "cool" thing to still rip Kenny about that trade -- hell, just look at the thread of the trade, just about everyone wanted Kenny's head on a platter after the deal -- but for anyone to even bring up Floyd's name in a negative light is simply ridiculous. What'd Sickels write? PS: it isn't the "Cool" thing to rip Kenny after that trade. A bunch of people say positive things about Floyd. A ton of us who don't believe in Floyd are still in the closet. I'm pretty open about how I feel, about my doubts, but I know there are people even more skeptical than I who don't speak out. PPS: Kenny doesn't make the McCarthy trade without Masset, too. Masset, of course, wowed him with the Jenks tick, and he liked the thought of getting more than one for one. QUOTE(shoota @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 04:37 PM) Don't forget about Jenks's injury history. I'm far from the most informed fan of players' personal lives, but I don't recall hearing Jenks had a drug problem? History of violence? Fighting with a lot of teammates. There are articles about it around (I specifically remember a fight on the team bus). Google it! And you didn't know Jenks had a problem with vices? He did. It's fairly well-known. Anyway, those are the reasons nobody else picked him up but we needed a closer so we took the chance. It worked out well for us when we won the Series. It worked out well for him when he got married, settled down here in the city and got happy, and it's worked out well for his family of course. That's why I say God bless Bobby. His life's settled down, and he's kept the ninth inning relatively good over the last two years.

Shadows, Hizzle, No, that is not the song I was thinking of. Good song, but I'm thinking of the one that's briefly clipped here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6KnXxnepjxQ At about 4:25.

Gavin Floyd, oh yeah.

Well, that wouldn't surprise me, either.

It would not surprise me to see Dye or Erstad back next year.

Is Juddling married to Alpha, or something?

People avoided him because he had a drug problem, drinking problems and attitude problems, including a history of violence. We didn't see anything in his arm that anybody else didn't see. We just needed him and took the risk on him, but we didn't see anything different that other teams didn't see.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) The Sox were in hell long before Kenny was hired. And will be long after, at this rate. As fathom says, Thank God we won when we had the chance.

It was more like, "Pum-pum-pum, pum-pum-pum-pum-pum-pum, pum-pum-pum, puuuuuuuuuuuuum. Doodoodoodooodooo, doododododododo, errrrrrro."

Does anyone have the old Owen Hart theme? Not the "Nation" theme but the catchy one? Pum-pum-pum-pum, pum-pum-pum-pum, terrenenenenene.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 11:31 AM) BP confirms that Garland is not available in trade but Vazquez is: That seems idiotic to me because Garland is a FA in 2008 and I really, really doubt that he's going to sign for less than Vazquez did. And I'm not convinced that Garland is a better pitcher at all. Why keep Garland when the team will not contend in 2008? Also, some Dodger stuff that was interesting: the Pirates are willing to trade Ian Snell to LA but LA won't give up Kemp for him. If Snell can't get Kemp, no one in the Sox organization can either. So cross him off the list. Also, LA is considering trading their SS prospect Hu to KC for Dotel. That would make me unhappy, as I'd like the Sox to get Hu and I hate to see the Royals sign a reclamation project and flip him for good young talent. I'm starting to think Moore is a pretty good GM.... Moore is very good, IMO. He's had good experience with The Best.

QUOTE(IowaSoxFan @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 08:41 AM) These are the types of trades I expect to see from the Braves. They want to but payroll and stay in contention at the same time. Their new ownership is from all accounts very frugal and trying to bring the payroll down. I almost more expect them to trade McCann then Salty because he is closer to costing them more in arbitration. The Braves do not seem to be a good match to trade with. But I agree that Garland should be traded, and probably by the deadline if we can get a few prospects back. Brian received a big extension from them so he's not going anwhere.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 10:57 AM) Yo I'm in on this bet! I say it's Erstad first. Seeing that it's been a while, he gets spooked by the fireworks after "Thunderstruck" starts and tweaks a hammy, knocking him out for all of August. Who's with me? That's ridiculous.

Who said they weren't enamored with Washington? All I'm saying is, people in Congress

I've been on Bash for five years, so I thought I'd share.

I should add: I'm not declaring something stupid like "every dog has its day." I'm saying: "Just because your team won, doesn't mean you're a good GM." If your organization goes to hell thereafter, and was less-than exemplary before, that's a truer measure, IMO.

1. You should get out more. Talk to more people! 2. I absolutely stand by it.